Unlike dominant approaches to “public safety” that rely on force & hierarchy, mutual protection isn’t paternalistic or patriarchal. And breaking from the assumptions many charities make about deservedness & need, mutual protection isn’t saviorism. It relies on relationships & recognizes the agency communities already hold to protect themselves while valuing what support they may need. Kalaya’an Mendoza, the Director of U.S. Programs for Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP), shares that “mutual protection is an ancestral gift that BIPOC communities have inherited in order for our communities to survive genocide & colonial violence.” Mutual Protection is nothing new.
- This event has passed.